PubData Leuphana Repository: Existential insecurity and deference to authority: the pandemic as a natural experiment

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.48548/pubdata-1442

Resource type	Journal Article
Title(s)	Existential insecurity and deference to authority: the pandemic as a natural experiment
DOI	10.48548/pubdata-1442
Handle	20.500.14123/1511
Creator	Foa, Roberto Stefan 0000-0001-8867-7566 Welzel, Christian 0000-0002-1562-3580
Abstract	Introduction: The global coronavirus pandemic offers a quasi-experimental setting for understanding the impact of sudden exposure to heightened existential risk upon both individual and societal values. Methods: We examined the effect of the pandemic on political attitudes by comparing data from eight countries surveyed before and after the worldwide spread of COVID-19 in March 2020 with continuous weekly polling tracker data from the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2021. Multilevel models were used to explore the drivers of change, and the results indicated that reported emotions of fear and stress were positively associated with institutional approval during periods of greater pathogen risk. Results: Our findings revealed that support for political and technocratic authority, as well as satisfaction with political institutions, rose significantly above long-term historical baselines during the pandemic. Discussion: The results support the hypothesis that exposure to existential risk results in greater support for authority and that individual feelings of insecurity may be linked to less critical citizen orientations.
Language	English
Keywords	Pandemic; Existential Security; Populism; Authoritarianism; Pathogen; Risk; COVID-19
Year of publication in PubData	2024
Publishing type	Parallel publication
Publication version	Published version
Date issued	2023-05-19
Creation context	Research
Notes	This publication was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Published by	Medien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
Related resources	Relations of this publication Relations of this publication

Information regarding first publication

Field	Value
Resource type	Journal
Title of the resource type	Frontiers in Political Science
Identifier	DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2023.1117550
Publication year	2023
Volume	5
Number	1117550
Number type	Article
Publisher	Frontiers